Every major oil and gas provider is competing to sell more gas than his or her competitor. As like any other
industry, these providers make special offers and promotions on a regular bases to attract the business of
the average automobile driver. This comes by the way of environmental commercials, cash back when using
a credit cards, support for organizations such as upromise.com (every time you fill up, money is provided
into a college account for a denoted child). In addition to all of these promotions and marketing strategies,
these organizations also must be sensitive to the pricing of gas immediately across the street, down the
street and in the general area in which they sell gasoline. In some cases, it does not matter if they are the low
cost leader in a particular area, but rather, if the pricing difference becomes to great (either down or up), the
provider either is not earning as much margin as they can or loosing sales due to the margin being perceived
to high. The model in which providers use is highly dynamic and there are many exception to these rules.
For example, there is a station located in Calabasas, California that is strategically located near the entrance
of one of the wealthiest communities in Los Angles. The prices at this Exxon station are often considerably
higher than any station in the area. The residences in this area care more about convenience than price.
As a way to monitor and track quickly changing prices from one location to the next, Shell Oil Production
US had implemented a price tracking system using Westlake Software, Inc.’s AirMobility.Net Wireless
Middleware. This included a highly customized handheld client software and integration directly into their
larger Oracle database in Houston, TX. The strategy was to capture competitive gas prices as their larger
field force was visiting their own locations throughout the United States. Field representatives would
capture competitive gas prices and submit them to the AirMobility.Net Middleware. The middleware
would aggregate the data throughout the day and compose a file specifically formatted for the Shell Oil Oracle
database. Once the information was retrieved by the database, triggers and thresholds held within Oracle can
now help Shell become more competitive and more effective with their pricing models within every market
they are in.
